


Dare

by LindseyintheSkywithDiamonds



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Ben has a spare room, Ben isn't happy, F/M, Friends With Benefits, Friends to Lovers, Problem Solver Leia, Rey doesn't know what she's doing, Rey needs a place to stay, Roommates, Secret Relationship, ben has issues, or does she?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-17
Updated: 2017-10-17
Packaged: 2019-01-18 18:15:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,868
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12393477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LindseyintheSkywithDiamonds/pseuds/LindseyintheSkywithDiamonds
Summary: Was it an inevitability-- the natural conclusion to two young adults of opposite sex sharing a living space for an extended period of time?Had it been the the liquor in their respective systems mixed with the bitter disappointment of ending up at home on a Saturday night after a rotten date?Or was it something more?Fate or coincidence? Maybe we'll never know what brought them together that night. But it was definitely the scent of his cologne and that red stain on her lips when she whispered, “Come on, I dare you,” that caused what happened next.





	1. Prologue

“It’s about time you returned my phone calls, Benjamin.”

Waving off the change that the grizzled old man behind the counter tried to offer him, Ben Solo grabbed his usual lunch order of a turkey and provolone on wheat with a bottle of unsweetened iced tea. “Is that any way to greet your only child?” he quipped, the bell above the door chiming as he left the cool deli to eat his meal outside. He could almost hear his mother's eyes rolling through the phone.

“My only child should have answered his phone when I called him three times this week,” Leia Organa-Solo countered, causing Ben to roll his eyes behind his Ray Bans. “Don’t roll your eyes at me.”

“I would never,” he lied with an indignant huff that may have been a laugh. Feeling the inexplicable need to explain himself, he quickly added, “I meant to call you back sooner, but work has been Hell. What’s going on? Is Dad okay?”

“Nothing is going on and your father is fine. Can I not call just to chat?” Her blasé tone caused Ben’s stride to falter halfway to his chosen lunch spot in the park by the deli, hackles raised in suspicion. In the fifteen months since Han Solo’s heart attack, and Ben and Leia’s subsequent emotional reunion in the ER waiting room, Leia had never once called him “just to chat”.

Curious to discover her real agenda, Ben decided to play along. “Sure, Mom. What did you want to chat about?”

“Do you remember Rey Kenobi?”

 _Rey Kenobi_? It had been years since he thought of the skinny, little tomboy who came from England to live with the old man next door after her parents died. Of all the things his mother could have wanted to chat about, Obi-Wan’s granddaughter hadn’t even crossed his mind.

“Sure, how could I forget the kid that you made me drive to school everyday during my senior year of high school? How is she doing?”

“Are you ever going to let that go? It didn’t kill you to drive that little girl to school,” she argued, exasperated that her son still insisted on bringing up his “punishment” ten years after the fact. Blithely ignoring that fact that she had nearly been goaded into an argument, she briskly continued, “Rey is great! Obi-Wan would’ve been so proud of her– she’s grown up to be such a beautiful and intelligent young woman. She just graduated from State and is going to be moving to Coruscant soon to start working on her masters at CU.”

_Here we go…_

“Mom, I can see where you’re going with this and I appreciate the thought, but I don’t need you to set me up with Obi’s granddaughter.”

“Oh, Ben! Don’t be ridiculous! I’m not trying to set you up with Rey– you’re too old for her!”

**_Too old!?_ **

“What do you mean too old?!” Ben sputtered, indignation causing him to forgot his objections in the moment, “I’m not even 30 yet! And dad is ten years older than you!”

“That’s different,” Leia said flippantly, as if that was all she needed to say to explain her reasoning. 

For a moment Ben was aggravated enough to consider hanging up on his mother, fifteen months of good behaviour be damned. Deciding to forgo that plan of action, Ben let out an exaggerated sigh instead.

“So, if you’re not trying to set me up, why are we talking about Rey Kenobi?”

“You have a second bedroom in your apartment, yes?”

“Oh, you have got to be kidding me!” Ben exclaimed, “I haven’t had a roommate since college. Why would I let some random girl move in with me?”

“She’s not some random girl; she’s practically your cousin,” Leia scoffed, “Your father and I promised Obi-Wan before he passed away that we would take care of her and it would make us both feel much better knowing that she has someone looking out for her in the city.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be some kind of feminist icon?” Ben sneered, “Surely a grad student can take care of herself.”

“Sweetheart, I know this is a lot to ask, but please just think about it before you say no,” Leia pleaded, “I wouldn’t have asked you if I could have found another solution. Her scholarship doesn’t include housing expenses and she refuses to allow us to pay for an apartment for her. I just can’t bear to think of her living with God knows who or killing herself trying to juggle school and working enough to afford her own apartment. She’s already had such a difficult life, with losing her parents so young and then Obi…”

“You’re really not pulling your punches today, are you?” Ben grumbled as ran a hand over his face and through his long hair, tugging sharply at the roots. Hoping that he wouldn’t come to regret what he was about to say, Ben let out a dramatic groan and sealed his fate.

“When is she moving in?”


	2. Ben's No Good, Very Bad Morning

    Have you ever had one of those days where it felt like the universe was laughing at your expense? The kind of day where one thing after another went wrong? Ben was having one of those days and it wasn’t even 8AM.

    It began like any other day, the incessant peal of his alarm waking him at precisely 6AM. Sleep addled and confused by the unusual darkness of his bedroom, Ben squinted at the large window across the room. Outside the pink glow of the late August sunrise was obscured by heavy grey storm clouds, a steady shower of rain pouring from the sky. For a brief moment he toyed with the idea of skipping his morning run and staying in bed for an extra hour. In the end the choice to get up was made by the growing pressure on his bladder. With a groan Ben sat as up and forced his long limbs to leave the comfort of his warm bed and cross the room to his ensuite bathroom. Standing in front of his toilet with his cock in one hand and scratching the smattering of coarse hair across his chest with the other, Ben mentally prepared himself to brave the rain while he relieved his aching bladder. While the prospect of crawling back into his bed was tempting, Ben knew that he needed to suck it up and go on his run if he didn’t want to lose his shit later in the day. Always having too much energy and never enough patience, daily exercise was necessary to keep him sane. The day ahead of him was going to be bad enough without any added tension.

    Because today Ben was getting a **FUCKING** roommate.

    It had been ten days since he had unsuspectingly answered a phone call from his mother and she had oh-so-nonchalantly asked him to house a twenty two-year-old grad student in his 1,200 square foot apartment. As if that was a completely normal thing to ask of your adult son. He still wasn’t sure who had been more shocked when he had so readily agreed.

    He felt his jaw clench at the memory of that one uncharacteristic moment of altruism. What the fuck had possessed him to agree to let a stranger live in his apartment? He rarely let the few people that he could actually tolerate enter his home and he never let anyone stay for an extended period of time. And now he would be living with some girl because he was too much of a pussy to tell his mother no.

    He yanked on a black hoodie and running shorts, he movements becoming more aggressive as his thoughts spiraled. Just the idea of Rey Kenobi coming into his private space and staying there for an entire year made him want to snarl and lash out like a rabid dog. What kind of girl was okay with moving in with a random older man? Was she so naive to think that sort of behavior was safe? Surely she hadn’t fallen for his mother’s ridiculous belief that they were “practically cousins”. They had been neighbors for a single year before he went away to college and he didn’t think that she had said ten words to him the entire time, even with him driving her to and from school for months. The memory of those awkward silent car rides and the one time he forgot to pick her up still made him cringe ten years later.

    “Mother fucker!” he growled when the thin shoestring in his shoe snapped under the pressure of a hard tug. The now useless shoe soared across the room, leaving a dirty black scuff on the white paint where it hit before falling to the carpet.

 

* * *

 

    Ben slammed the apartment door behind him with enough force to rattle the windows.

    Dripping wet and even more pissed off than before he had left, Ben made a beeline for his bathroom, slamming his now broken iPhone on his dresser as he passed. He had been crossing the intersection on Takodana Street into Theed Park when the sole of his Converse slipped against the wet pavement, sending him sprawling on his face like a jackass and his phone thrown ten feet away. “God fucking damn it,” he yelled and slammed his fist against the ground before taking a deep breath, standing, and retrieving the shattered, but miraculously still powered on, phone with bloodied palms.

    Ben tried to ignore the stinging of the soap against his raw palms and knees as he worked the shampoo into his long hair. He let out a mirthless laugh when he heard his unusable phone begin to ring from the direction of his bedroom. In the matter of an hour his day had gone from bad to worse and he actually kind of wished he could answer the call, just so he could tell whoever it was who was calling him at 7AM to fuck off.

    What he really wanted was to get to work and pretend this bullshit day never happened.

    The ringing began again five minutes later as he was shaving, once again ten minutes after that as he was tying his tie.

    He was so on edge from the near constant ringing that when he heard a knock on his front door he didn’t even stop to think about _why_ someone was knocking on his door so early in the morning. Fists clenched in irritation, Ben stalked to the door and yanked it open while simultaneously thundering, “What the fuck do you want?”

    It was the unfazed way she reacted to his aggressive display, merely raising one arched eyebrow and calmly saying, “Well, hello to you, as well,” that cooled Ben’s temper enough for him to take in the woman standing in front of him. Even drenched from the rain she was cute, from her curling wet hair all the way down her long bare legs to her pink flip flop covered feet. However, it was the large Army issued duffle bag on the floor by her feet that swiftly caught his attention. Specifically, what was embroidered on the side.

    **B. KENOBI.**

 

 


End file.
